Jul 14 in Branding
Written by: Heather Rast
Flash forward eighteen months, I’m roughly halfway into my first full paid year of Motionbox service. Rolling along fine, thanks, when BOOM! I receive the following (the red annotations are mine):
I don’t know Snapfish from tuna and already they’ve torqued me off. I understand acquisitions happen, particularly in technology and Internet-driven companies. However, as a consumer I really resent their approach and tone. And as a member who remained through the earlier acquisition, I’m frustrated that they didn’t maintain the prior migration policy nor make allowances for those with existing paid subscriptions.
Ways I feel this email put me off the Snapfish brand:
- Where’s the prelude, the introduction? Start with a message about why the two companies are joining forces, and why that will benefit me.
- What’s up with the subject line snub? Am I supposed to feel deserted by Motionbox, and therefore grateful for the Snapfish offer? Snapfish doesn’t look better in my eyes by bringing Motionbox down.
- What’s the deal with no notice? And that’s what one month is, really. If they really respected us (and weren’t covertly trying to sweep us into the swift-running waters headed straight for Snapfish), they’d give us the time needed to evaluate the market and review other solutions. It may be summer, but I have zero free hours.
- How do I get one year of free service out of this deal? I’ve already paid for twelve months with Motionbox, whereas I’ve only used six of them. So I’m theoretically going into this Snapfish deal with six months banked, which should be on top of their “free” twelve months, right? It’s very short-sighted to apply a mass deal to account holders without taking into consideration existing positive balances on paid accounts. I feel robbed.
- Tactically speaking, they’ve given me no means to connect with them about this, good sentiment or bad. There’s no special toll-free number to call should I have questions, nor is there a clearly identified email contact, either. Do they think account holders are lemmings?
- Where’s their hat? It should be in their hand, since I didn’t directly opt in to this deal. Why not a “Hey, we really hope you choose to stay, because we have great things planned we think you’ll like.” At the very least, I completely expect the free video migration. What a pain for me to have to download the files for my videos (lots of download time) and then upload the files to Snapfish (lots of upload time). Why does their acquisition become my inconvenience?
I say bad move for the Snapfish brand. Is it arrogance that led them to be so casual about this deal, or are they really that ignorant and misguided? In this time of heavy video usage, I can’t imagine that they wouldn’t see the advantage to the extra effort needed to retain “built in” customers like me.
Needless to say, I’ll be looking around. Quickly.
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About the author
Principal of Insights & Ingenuity, a digital marketing company helping companies earn customer preference through thoughtful brand positioning, useful content, and responsive online communities. Penguins fan, hockey wife & mom.
8 Comments for: Snapfish brand stinks up the place
Hi I read your comment on this site and I would be interested in knowing more about your site. I was very pleased with Motionbox and I am absolutely fed up with Snapfish, especially after this. They have none of their kinks worked out for the transition yet are telling their customers to upload when the service does not even work yet!!! Not only does it not work, but the quality is poor and their customer service is even worse. I need to know how pixorial compares with Motionbox.
Thanks,
Erin
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Beth Harte and Catherine Lawson, Catherine Lawson. Catherine Lawson said: RT @BethHarte: Snapfish brand stinks up the place: http://bit.ly/co8Q0T (Rut-roh! Not a good first customer experience here. @HeatherRast shares her story) [...]
Hi Heather,
Starting a new relationship by annoying the built-in customer base is pretty stupid. It would seem that, strategically, the first group of people they’d want to make happy where those that were already committed to the space (or, at a minimum, trying to avoid the hassle of having to move everything around.
Whether this is poor communications or an indication of other problems, this is definitely a Snapfish fail.
Thank you for listening, Melissa! I had not heard of Pixorial before now, but I’m pleased that you were listening online and applaud your initiative of reaching out to a poorly treated customer. I have no compelling reason to go with Snapfish, and already Pixorial has demonstrated the kind of relationship-oriented mindset that suggests “hey, we know you have choices. we want you.”
Hi, Erin. I think your comment is directed to Melissa, as I’ve yet actually tried neither Snapfish or Pixorial just yet. I’m definitely not going with Snapfish (thanks for the heads up!), and will learn more about Pixorial when I poke around their site later today. Melissa is @melissahourigan on Twitter.
Daria, I couldn’t have said it better myself! You’re saying exactly what I mean–I should be part of the low-hanging fruit, right? Folding me in should have been easy for them to do…thank me for the opportunity to continue Motionbox’s service, they want to earn my continued business, etc. Instead I think they presume too much, and their arrogance (or ignorance) is off-putting. Thanks tons for stopping by!
Thanks Heather, if any of you have any questions. Feel free to email me at melissa@pixorial.com or call me at 303.557.0040 x114.
Erin, here are some of the things that you will find w/ Pixorial.
- Unlimited sharing – share your videos the way you choose, private or on social networks, blogs and websites, we think that should be up to you.
- Unlimited editing – our free video editor is web-based, no downloads or expensive software. Add titles, transitions, and edit videos from a number of sources.
- Massive uploading – upload multiple videos up to 800 MB at a time. We support a number of formats.
- Unlimited storage – archive your entire video library. You will love having access to your videos from any location with a browser and all videos are stored at maximum resolution. So like you share your pictures, you can share your videos from a mobile device.
- Unlimited downloads.
- Lots of production opportunity – make different cuts, piece different videos together – make it short, make it long. You have creative control of your content and have access to a host of fun options including our screening room player, our VideoAblum app on Facebook, our VideoCards and downloads.
- For a little extra, we can convert your analog media into digital files. Rates start at $14.99 for cassettes and tapes up to 2 hours. Once converted, you can enjoy those past memories with a free full-resolution download.
You can also make DVD’s through our site.
Anyway, please let me know if you have specific questions and I would be happy to help.
We would be happy to provide a new home for your videos. Check out our site, Pixorial.com. We will upgrade you to a pro account without the fee. Obviously, you have already paid once. If you are interested. Please feel free to contact me and we will do our best to make your move, an easy one.
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